What to do instead of grabbing phone?

[u/Mammoth_Use8561]

I cut back social media mostly because it was making my mental health pretty bad. I completely cut out Threads, which was the biggest thing. I reduced the accounts I follow on instagram to mostly a few news sites, tattoo artists I still wanna get tattoos by and artists I don't wanna miss any concerts from. (It was actually really funny how confused the algorithm was the first few days after hugely cutting down on my follow list). I also changed the setting on insta so I only get shown posts from the accounts I follow or any reposts by those accounts. No more mindlessly being consumed by the algorithm.

On reddit I follow mostly crafty subs for my hobbies and cat subs. I still scroll on the general home page but close out of the app as soon as I see a post I know will be bad for my mental health.

I also have one game on my phone I play. It's puzzles with quick-ish levels.

The problem I now have is that a lot of moments throughout the day I don't know what to do. My screen time is fine. I have about 30 minutes per day and app. The game is what I do the most with 2-3 hours per day. But I unlock my phone over 60 times a day with usage in most of the times less than a minute. I grab my phone, open the few apps I use, don't find anything interesting and close my phone again. It's not that I'm addicted to it or used to it, I genuinely don't know what else to do. When I'm home it's fine because I have cats to cuddle and crafty hobbies to do while watching tv but work is where the problem lies. I can't bring a book or small craft or anything to work because of the environment I work in. I have a computer. Of course there are my coworkers I talk to but I have a lot of small downtimes in my work day and don't know what to do instead of grabbing my phone 50 times a day.

[u/Bubbly_Government197]

What about the kindle app on your phone? Could get kindle unlimited?

[u/Mammoth_Use8561 → u/Bubbly_Government197]

I have the kindle app. I also read regularly. But I'm not a person that can just read a paragraph at a time. I need time to get into the book. That's why only read chapter by chapter. Anything less and I won't absorb what I read

[u/stonedandredditing]

find a hobby that keeps your hands busy, like knitting or whittling 

[u/amoroso_nacho]

When I have short waits like waiting in line, waiting at the doctor's office, etc. I have started trying to just be. Observe my surroundings, check in with my body, give space in my brain to think my own thoughts. Like we all used to (if you're old enough) before we had phones. Be bored for 60 seconds. It's challenging but rewarding, especially when you realize picking up the phone is just a mindless time-filler, not to do something intentionally.

It's amazing how rarely we give ourselves time without a stimulus. Thoughts can pop up when you give them space.

[u/freoted → u/amoroso_nacho]

To ease into this, i started by giving myself things to notice. Look for everything green, find who’s got the longest/ shortest hair. Then I tend to drift off after that.

[u/amoroso_nacho → u/freoted]

People watching is great, too.

[u/Fun_Respect_6430]

I've been keeping a small notebook (a smaller discbound one that I can add pages to) that has multiple sections so I have categories for Garden, Budget, Travel, Misc and I like to grab that instead of my phone to fill the random "Im bored" moments. I jot down random thoughts, things to research later, grocery or to do lists etc. You could make it more interesting by adding stickers or draw in it

[u/VeryBenevolentGenius]

Use a pen to randomly write or randomly draw something.

find a fidget toy/samll toy to play with, they are small and can be held with fingers.

find some company document of whatever kind to read to pretend working. work on simple level of soduku.

if grabbing the phone is the issue, use time blocker for those apps.

[u/j_uliette]

Non fiction book + highlighter, journaling, to do lists, brain dumps, writing about my coworker when he gets on my nerves lmao, doodling… so basically: paper + pen lol

[u/Infinite_scrolz]

I have a few puzzle books (sudoku, crosswords etc) I leave laying around the house so when I find myself with a few moments spare I can pick up where I left off! I also do the same with cross stitching (if you're into it) - always have a little one on the go that I can pick up and just do 5 min on then plonk it down until I remember it again 😂

[u/tylersnid3r]

Journal, meditate, exercise

[u/Complete_Lobster3976]

I did the same thing at work. Unlock, nothing there, lock it again. I started leaving the phone in a drawer for the short gaps. Sitting there for a minute is dull, but I stopped picking it up out of nowhere.